Materialize
by silvereevee
Summary: 2013 is supposed to be the begging of the end; and for the Digital World it could be. Just before midnight on New Year's Eve, a virus sweeps through the Digital World, reverting it's protectors into DigiEggs and damaging the barrier that separates the Digital World from the Real World and the Dark Area. Now a new era of DigiDestined must fix it.
1. Prolouge

****DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters in this story unless stated otherwise. Digimon belong to Bandai and it's other respective owners.  
**

**I do however, own Marcus and Denise "Dee" McKenzie and Alise Robberson.  
**

**Thank-you.**  
**

**Prologue**

**11:54 PM**

_OK, you've got 6 minutes! You can do it, Alise!_

In a tiny house, a teenage girl sat cross legged on her bed, hunched and hastily typing. The window behind her was slightly cracked, letting December's crisp air suck away the heat she deeply desired. She wanted to stop and get a blanket from her closet, but she knew every second counted; and she could hear the sounds of gunshots and laughter getting louder.

She took a quick glance at the screen's clock: 11:57.

"Alise! Hurry up! You're gonna miss the countdown!"

"In a sec!" she hollered.

Having typed her final characters, she clicked the save button for the final time, and then lowered her laptop screen.

Meet Alise Roberson.

She was a short girl, barely gracing five feet, and had hazel eyes like the Sahara sands.

Anxious, she rushed down the stairs sockless, and felt her feet give way; but her pale hands managed to grab the banister before she could tumble. Wasting no time, she pushed herself up, and rushed to the kitchen; where the vinyl floors were somewhat less hazardous. A lone champagne glass stood on the counter, and she snatched it, and then dashed into the living room. She practically threw herself in between her aunt and uncle on the suede, grey sofa.

The three of them were focused on the TV as Time Square's New Years' Time Ball slid its way down, changing from a neon green to a florescent pink.

**5…**

**4….**

**3…**

**2…**

**1…**

**…?**

**...?**

"Hey! What happened?"

A middle aged man, Marcus McKenzie, or more so Uncle Marcus, set his champagne glass down and stomped over to the TV, inspecting it. The reporter had his mouth half open, ready to speak, and the time ball was stuck just at the base; seconds away from beginning the firework display.

"Ally, see if you can change the channel."

She grabbed the remote and pressed. The other news channel was frozen the same way.

"Oh, what the hell! Of all the times for the cable to screw up!"

"But aren't the news stations a part of basic television?" Alise asked took a sip of cider from her glass, earning a disapproving glance from her aunt. "And, the clock hasn't changed either..."

"Huh? Oh. You're right." Marcus ran a hand through his ginger hair, and took his glasses off. Alise could feel her aunt's green eyes emitting invisible heat vision as she took another slow sip.

"Alise! You're supposed to wait!" Her aunt practically whined.

The teenage waved nonchalantly. "Yeah, but it's obviously past midnight!"

Middle aged woman dramatically threw her head back, and tugged the ends of her wavy, chestnut hair; a cue that she was about to go into one of her banters about the importance of tradition. Luckily, that didn't happen.

"Denise, hand me my phone. We're gonna clear this up right now."

Closing her mouth, she slid the phone over the coffee table. Just as Marcus began to dial the first 3 digits, though the TV's digital clock corrected itself and jumped to 12:05.

Life sprung back into motion.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The reporter said as he shook hands with the cameraman.

Behind him, hats went flying as a row of red fireworks shot high into the air, bursting into glimmering pink lines, then fading into smoke. Toasting what little remained of her cider; Alise proceeded upstairs as the phone rang. She shut her door, but could faintly hear her uncle talking.

"Hey, Jeff. Happy New Year to you too, man! Huh? You mean your TV froze too? The phone line stopped too? That's weird."

_Indeed._

With that, she went to sleep._  
_


	2. Chapter 1

**_One week later…_**

TICK…

TOCK…

TICK…

TOCK…

"Okay…and STOP! Place your pencils down and I will collect your tests." A few groans were muttered about the room but the instructor only laughed.

Mrs. Willis. She was a slim woman, aged with frown lines and baggy eyes; her brown hair messily pulled into a bun with a few silver hairs poking out, but her glasses perfectly positioned on her face. Somewhat fitting for a history teacher.

"Thank-you…thank-you…sweetie, you forgot your name." The woman muttered as she noisily weaved her way through computer chairs and students, picking up papers as she went. One student took a nervous glance towards the teacher as she approached. Her hazel seemed intense as they hastily scanned the paper.

_A..D…E…B?_

She could hear the impatient foot tapping of Mrs. Willis as a shadow fell over her paper.

"C'mon, Alise, hand it over."

Groaning in defeat, Alise ran a hand through her slick ginger hair, and slid her test to the edge of the table.

"Thank-you."

"Welcome." She muttered flatly.

"Okay class! The rest of your time may be used to work on your History Fair Project. Which is due when?"

"Thursday!" The class said in unison.

It was 2:36 in the evening, and an over an hour of 2nd period still remained. Her chin resting in one hand, she pushed her computer monitor's power button with other; the black screen flickering white with life.

_Might as well check my e-mail._

Alise slowly scrolled through her mail, deleting what seemed like an endless stream of spam. She hesitated when at one in particular.

**Sender: Jiji January 1**

**_"Salutations Aliseon V. Robberson…"_**

Everyone knows Alise (or Alice) is just a shortened version of Alison, but she had never signed up for anything using her full name; especially her middle initial.

_Maybe it's a college? But what is DW for?_

She moved the mouse to click it, but suddenly, the page refreshed itself, a new email at the top of the list with a gold star. She opened it.

**Sender: Kyle 2:40 PM**

**Receiver: Me**

**Hey, Alise. Here's my portion of the PP (sorry I'm late). Would you please tell Mrs. Willis I still have the flu?**

**-Kyle.**

Kyle was notorious for skipping class if he so much as woke up the wrong way; so why would her teacher pair them together on a project that was worth a quarter of their grade? Not bothering to take her eyes of the screen, she waved for her teacher's attention.

"Yes, Miss Roberson?"

"Kyle just sent me his portion of the project. He says he still has the flu though."

She braced herself as she clicked the attachment download button. Knowing Kyle, he probably half-assed it.

Mrs. Wilson held a clipboard to her chest and began scribbling. "…two days late…that'll be 10 points off…" she muttered quietly to herself.

When the file opened, Alise skimmed through and was fairly impressed. He had held his end of the bargain and wrote a decent report about the Chicago Fire.

"Well, I'll be damned."

Now somewhat assured that Kyle wouldn't completely drop the ball, she relaxed and turned on her mp3 player. Having completed her portion ahead of time, Alise spent the rest of her time listening to music and mindlessly playing mind sweep. Finally, the piecing ring of a school bell brought her back into reality and her game to an end. Students immediately tore their headphones and flash drives from the computers and messily stuffed their bags with notebooks, folders, and pencils.

"Have a good weekend class!"

Alise slung her book bag over her back and pulled the hood of her grey hoodie over her head, then strolled out the class.

This would be the last normal day of her life.


	3. Chapter 2

*****DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters in this story unless stated otherwise. Digimon belongs to Bandai and it's respective owners.  
**

**I do own Mrs. Willis, Clairisa, Alise Roberson, Lilly Anderson, Marcus and Denise McKennzie, and Kyle Lakes.  
**

****Quick note: 8-bit graphics are like the 1st Mario games (don't own him either) and 32-bit is common on DS games like Kirby (Also not owned by me)****

Outside the school, hundreds of students had dispersed and rearranged themselves into their cliques. You had the usual: goths, divas, wanna be though kids, etc. Alise trudged through the snow, passing them all. She belonged to none; and she wanted to keep it that way. Once she reached the school's entrance, where the salt had generously been laid, she picked up the pace. Behind her, half of a block away, a massive white bus was making its way toward the corner ahead of her. She ran as fast as she could, nearly slipping several times.

_Why is it whenever I need the busses to be late the- OW!_

Her cheek stung as a small chunk of ice fell to the ground, the tip of it stained red. She removed a hand from her mittens and held it to her face, wiping away a small stream of blood.

"Hey, Alice! You're not running back to Wonderland are you?

Clarissa, a tall copper skinned girl with and black curls that never moved out of place from hours of being sprayed stiff taunted her; and behind her stood five others girls; each of them caked with makeup and proudly sporting ridiculously expensive designer clothes. The Queens, or as Alise called them, The Drag Queens.

"Naw, 'Risa, I think she's headed for the madhouse." Another quipped.

Ignoring them, Alise slid her mitten back on, the bus passing as she did so; creating a dark smoke screen of diesel between the two. She sprinted down the block and stood behind an elderly man as passengers departed; throwing a spiteful glare towards them.

An Asian girl met her gaze. "Hey guys, she looks pretty upset…" feigning genuine concern. "Maybe we should stop before she hexes us!" This sent group into a laughing fit as she boarded. Alise slid her card in and made her way to the very back of the bus and slid into a window seat, adverting the stares of some fellow classmates. With at least another 15 stops till her destination, she pulled out a hardcover copy of _Airborne_ by Matt Cruse. It was the last book her mom had sent, including a postcard with a picture of a snow covered trolley as a bookmark. New Orleans was printed on the front in a fancy font. That was her home.

"So it snows, there too huh?"

Absorbed in thought, Alise hadn't noticed that another book bag had been placed beside hers.

"I'm sorry?"

"It snows in New Orleans?"

A bony, blond haired girl was now beside her, just inches separating them. "Umm, yeah." Alise shut her book, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the violation of personal space. "Don't take this the wrong way, but, do I know you from somewhere?"

Instead of looking hurt, the girl extended a hand. "I'm Lilly Anderson. I'm in your lunch period."

Truth be told, Alise did know her. Lilly was a talkative girl on the school's yearbook team. She seemed to know everyone's name and face, even in a school as big as theirs. Not everyone knew her though. Her home sewn attire and talkative nature got her kicked out of the cliques too. Alise shook out of manners more than anything.

"You're Alise Robberson, right?" She made it sound like a statement more than a question.

"Yeah."

Lilly shot off endless questions throughout the ride, only stopping to keep track of the stops or let Alise reply. When the bus pulled to the second stop before hers though, the monologue came to an end.

"Well, here's my stop. Bye, Alise!" With that the girl cheerily departed.

_Thank God. _The rest of her ride was filled with silence.

Once Alise was off the bus, it was a straight shot to her relatives', a white frame house one at the corner. She took a peak down the drive way. Empty. Her aunt was a college professor, and her uncle a sales accountant. Neither of them would be back for another hour. Once inside, she peeled away layers of hot winter clothing and cleaned her cheek wound. Exhausted, she went to her room and lazily flopped on the bed, then opened her laptop.

_Maybe Kyle found those pictures._

Logging in her email again, she saw nothing had changed. At the top was the curious email from earlier.

**Sender: Jiji DW. net January 1**

* * *

**_"Salutations Aliseon V. Robberson…"_**

* * *

_Not too many spam messages are so formal...maybe it's another college?_

She clicked it.

The message was blank.

"Shit…"

Suddenly an error message popped up, and multiple internet browsers began to open on their own. Alice furiously clicked Ctrl –At- Del, but nothing happened. The message box began to fill itself with 0s and 1s, causing her computer to freeze completely. The screen went stark white. A small, pixelated egg appeared on the screen and a digital font, like that of an electric alarm clock appeared.

T-H-A-N-K

Y-O-U

F-O-R

H-A-T-C-H-I-N-G

M-E!

The egg began to bounce up and down, then cracked. It then dissipated, and in its place was a grey mass 8-bit pixels, with two yellow dots for 'eye' began to move across her screen.

BEGINNING DELETION…

What?! No! No! No!" Alise manically hit the power button, but the laptop refused to shut off. She could only stare in horror as the smoke ball began to move back and forth faster, making swallowing motions. Suddenly the creature stopped at the top of the screen and clapped it's hands together.

MOKUMON DIGIVOLVED TO DEMIMERAMON!

"Digivolved? Don't tell me this some sort of gaming hacker! I-I don't even play online!"

The pixels upgraded into the more modern 32-bit, and grey mass changed into what looked an orange fireball with a stitched mouth. It was laughing at her! Multicolored pixels began to dance across her screen, and Alise pushed the laptop away as she felt it heating up. The pungent scent of hot plastic filled her nose as smoke began to emit out from the keyboard, and small flames and sparks began to shoot out.

"OMIGOD! OMIGOD!"

Alise raced downstairs and grabbed a fire extinguisher from the kitchen pantry. She yanked the canister from the wall as a loud bang was heard; prompting her to take the stairs two at a time. Thick smoke came from her doorway, and she quickly doused the small flames that were scorching her carpeted floor and the laptop, which was now halfway melted. Once the flames died down, she lifted her window and sank to the floor.

*Cough* *Cough*

"Uncle Mark *cough* is gonna flip."

"Geez, it took you long enough. I thought I would never leave digital limbo!"

Alise froze. This voice was unfamiliar. It was a male's, but sounded like a kid's. She reached for the metal extinguisher canister in self-defense and slowly turned around; and gave one of the girly-iest screams in her life.

A fireball the size of her head with large blue eyes and stitched mouth was bouncing about while levitating, oblivious to the situation. Impulsively, she threw the red canister, but is dodged at the last moment. It wasn't until now it took notice of the hazel-eyed human; and floated towards her curiously.

"Oh! I didn't burn you did I?"

"OMIGOD! G-GET AWAY!" Alise screamed.

It did the exact opposite, coming closer till there was less than a foot between them. Eye's wide, she focused intently on the flame; her fearful eyes reflected in its blue ones.

_I'm dreaming, that's it! I must have fell asleep with all of Lilly's talking! This is all just a dream. I'm still on the bus fast asleep._

Alise began fidgeting wildly and slapped herself, bringing intense pain to her already sensitive cheek and earning a frown from the digi.

"Wake up! C'mon wake up!"

"Stop! Stop it!" The creature cried in childish voice.

Unsure of what to do with the unresponsive girl, it snatched her wrist with its flaming hands, using all its might to restrain her. Alise froze when she saw the creature touching her. Though its flames did not hurt, she panicked and tried to wave it off.

"Hey! Stop! It's ok! I came here 'cause we're supposed to be friends!"

"F-friends?"

"Yeah! Friends! Like partners!"

Despite its hazardous appearance, Alise found herself slowly relaxing. Maybe it was the goofy grin it had?Not wanting to make her anymore uncomfortable, the creature backed away.

"W-what are you?" she finally asked slowly, her heart finally slowing to a normal pace.

"I'm a digimon." It said proudly, pointing a fiery finger at itself. "And my name is DemiMeramon! Salutations Aliseon V. Roberson!"


	4. Chapter 3

****Author's note: I'm not crazy about having reviews, but they would be appreciated so I know what needs work or what's good. I see you all are coming, sometimes even multiple times, but you won't say anything. I mean, what? Are you coming back to get a kick out of my poor writing? ;) )****

Alise just stared at DemiMeramon.

"Um…salutations to you too…"

Alise's mind flooded with thoughts and questions like rain into a paper cup, but she figured the most important was…

"What's a Digimon?"

"Digimon means digital monster."

_My new "friend" is a pixel monster?_

_"_Okay…so can you tell me where you're from?"

The creature's stitches tightened as it closed its mouth into a frown. Idly floating about the room, he repeated the question as if pondering a riddle. He then looked at the ruins of the laptop, and shook its head.

"Okay...next question. You came out of my email. The sender was JiJi . Do you know who that is?"

The digi shook its head again.

"Alrighty," Alise said dryly "So you know absolutely nothing."

DemiMeramon's eyes dimmed a bit and he focused on the ground. "Sorry."

Immediately regretting her bluntness, Alise rubbed the back of her head.

"No, no. I'm Sorry. I guess I'm just a little frustrated. It's not every day your computer gets fried and you make friends with a 'digital monster'. She laughed at the end hoping it would lighten the mood- but DemiMeramon still avoided her gaze.

_Let's change the subject._

"Hey, um, have you ever had hot chocolate?"

This seemed to grab the impish creature's attention.

"What's chocolate?"

"Well, it's this dark brown stuff that taste really sweet an-"

Alise was cut off by three heavy knocks from the front door. "Chicago Police, open up!"

Spewing obscenities, Alise peeked out the window, and sure enough the yard was cast in red and blue light.

"Wait here."

Alise made her way down and unlocked the door. Lightly dusted in snow stood a tall, brawny man. His cocoa skin was somewhat wrinkled a tuft of salt-and-pepper hair stuck out from his beanie. Beside him, was a somewhat stout woman with piercing green eyes and messy black hair. "Evenin' miss, I'm Officer Rook," the man said tugging his hat "and this is my partner, Officer Kass." He explained pointing to the woman.

"H-hello officers."

The older officer glanced over Alise's shoulder. "Neighbor next door said she heard some screamin' and saw thick smoke coming out of a window. She said there's a young lady who spends a lot of time alone here. Are you her?"

"Yes."

A stinging sensation spread in her hands as the officers looked her over, then at each other. She could only hope the red and blue lights were masking her expression.

"You alone?" the woman asked.

Alise nodded. "My aunt and uncle live here, but they don't get home until around eight."

By now, several nosy neighbors had opened their blinds to watch the spectacle. She could only imagine the gossip the senior citizens would spread.

"Mind if we step in and make sure everything's alright?"

"Oh, no. Come on in."

Alise led them to the stairs that led to the upper floor, the older one in front, and the stout one behind. She laid a hand on the doorknob as they reached her room.

"You alright, kid? You look a 'lil green 'round the gills."

"Y-yeah. Just a little light-headed."

"Eh, probably from the smoke inhalation."

Slowly, she turned the knob and opened the door- as though they were going into a church rather than a fire zone.

"Well, what the hell happened here?"

With the smoke cleared, the dark grey spots from where sparks had landed were clear and the beige carpet now coated with miniature foam mountains sported a massive black stain.

"I was working on a project and left my laptop up here while I was cooking dinner. I started smelling something funny and when I came back up, it was sparking and my blanket was burning…"

"Well, it's a damn good thing you had an extinguisher."

Carefully, the officers stepped over bits of plastic that had blown apart while Alise nervously looked about.

_Where's DemiMeramon?_

"Ow!"

Officer Rook crouched down and put a hand underneath the burnt blanket. When it emerged, he held a rectangular, blue device with several buttons- it miraculously had been untouched. Not knowing what to make of it, he handed the device to Alise.

"Here's your..er, game. I don't think it cracked. But check to be sure."

Alise flipped it over. On the back in it read "D-7". Not sure about it either, she tucked it into her pants pocket.

The officers looked to room over for a few minutes, and concluded that the blanket blocked the cooling vent. On their way back down, then gave a lecture about the dangerous of leaving electronics unattended.

On their way down, Alise heard a set of tires crunching through the snow. Her Uncle Marcus and Aunt Denise stood staring flabbergasted.

"What happened?!"

Alise repeated the same lie she told the police.

Officer Rook stepped forward and introduced himself.

"Her blanket must've blocked out the cooling vent- battery overheated and caused the fire. It's not too bad. Mostly surface damage to her bedroom. You're gonna need to repaint, re-carpet, and get a new bedspread. She's pretty lucky it didn't spread."

Talking a glance back at the stairwell, the officers excused themselves. "Well, g'nite folks."

Alise locked the door and tried to not to look think about her uncle's expression.

"I need a drink." she heard him mutter.

With a heavy sigh he trudged his way down the stairs and past Alise without so much as a glance. Aunt Denise followed, but looked back at her niece.

"Sorry…" Alise muttered humbly.

"It's alright. Things happen. The important thing is nothing serious happened. You'll sleep in the den until we get everything fixed up."

Once she was positive her family was out of earshot, Alise went back into her room.

"DemiMeramon?"

She called his name again, but still no reply.

Suddenly a vibration sensation spread across her thigh. Reaching into the pocket, she pulled the "D-7". It had turned on by itself, and a massive green arrow turned about on a compass; then settled to her right.

What Alise and the officers hadn't noticed was that one of the wall's vent covers had been pulled away from the wall. She got on her knees and peered inside.

Sure enough, there were two large blue eyes peering back at her. She pulled back and immediately the little fireball popped out.

This time Alise wasn't going to bother hiding her annoyance.

"Why didn't you come out when I called?"

"I wanted you to see how your Digivice works."  
"My what?"

"Your Digivice. It's like a mini computer that will help you find me. I think it does other stuff too."

Alise looked the Digivice over and pushed a button near the top. A holograph of DemiMeramon came up:

DEMIMERAMON

LEVEL: IN-TRAINING

TYPE: FLAME

ATTRIBUTE: NONE

FAMILY: M.E

"Huh."

Alise hit the button again, and the image disappeared. She hit another button, and a map of her neighborhood came up. At the northeastern tip, a green arrow pulsated and a yellow dot flashed.

"Demi, you know what this is?"

"Nope."

Alise gave an exasperated sigh and turned the device off.

DemiMeramon gazed onto the white landscape. People had long since tucked themselves away into the comforts of their warm homes, leaving the streets fairly empty.

"…But we could go find out."


End file.
